James Harden To Remain In Philly: Report

James Harden is expected to re-sign with the Sixers on a short-term deal at the start of free agency, according to Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer. So in other words, good news for the rest of the NBA that one of the best teams in the eastern conference is inking arguably their fourth-best player to a big money deal.

Daryl Morey should know better by now.

Harden averaged 22.5 points per game in 2022 to go along with his 10.2 assists. His problem, however, was that he wasn't driving past defenders, exposing one-on-one coverages like he did in Houston or Oklahoma City. After all, that's why now 76ers president Daryl Morey sent Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and others to Brooklyn in exchange for the beard. James Harden was supposed to be the Ying to Joel Embiid's Yang. Turned out to be somewhat of a dud.

Now the 76ers are at least escaping the off-season without offering the former MVP a max contract. We have to imagine Harden knew he lost a step and could throw the Sixers a bone by taking a shorter term deal. Either that or he realized no one was offering him a max deal to get draw fouls in the regular season and then predictably disappear come playoff time.

Now, Harden needs to find a niche as playmaker to allow Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to play the roles of Batman and Robin. His days of dropping 40 on a nightly basis are over and if Harden wants any chance to hoist a ring before he retires, he'll get himself into better shape.